May 14, 2008

Buy a weather radio

I was in the Brookridge neighborhood tornado that hit at 2:02 am. There was no siren going off. We had two sirens going off earlier in the evening.

I have now learned that you don’t want to put your life in the hands of any TV meteorologist. After what we went through, I know the only hope of staying alive is owning a weather radio. Please buy one! When you are asleep at 2 a.m., it will likely be your only chance of survival.

We went to bed at 9:30 p.m. after the local weather said the risk of tornadoes was over.

Comments

Want to buy a weather radio? Buy MY weather radio -- before I fling it against the basement wall. What a waste of thirty dollars!

It's designed to terrify you. It talks incessantly, the alarm is frightening and startling, it beeps out warnings for everything including thunderstorm watches, and it is woefully inaccurate when it comes to location. You get to listen to watches and warnings that cover an area it would take you two hours to drive through!

I HATE MY WEATHER RADIO. In early June of this year, I cowered in the basement all night long as we got dumped with over 6" of rain, and my weather radio cackled at me all night as I tried to sleep.

Now I'm a subscriber to weathercall.net, advertised by Brian Busby. It pinpoints your exact address and it only calls you when a watch or warning applies to YOUR EXACT LOCATION. (I'm sure you folks in Chillicothe are lovely, but I'm down near Spring Hill and your forecast isn't my forecast!)

I set it up to phone our home number and my cell number if there is a tornado warning. I could have set it up to call me if there is a severe thunderstorm warning or watch -- but why?? All I want to know is when to go to the basement.